In the prior art, resonant DC-to-DC power converters have been used to produce regulated DC power for various applications. Typically, these DC-to-DC power converters have used transistor switches or SCR thyristor switches. In the case of SCR switches, the SCRs must be turned off either by natural or by forced commutation techniques.
In the natural technique, the energy stored in the main resonant circuit causes the current through the SCR switches to reverse direction automatically and forces the SCRs to turn off.
In the forced technique, additional components and switches are used in a commutation network to create the voltages and currents needed to commutate the SCR switches. These additional circuit components, are in addition to the power converter components and thus, necessarily, make the converter relatively complex.